The Violet Witch

X.

As soon as we land in Sokovia, Wanda, Pietro, and I are off. Pietro first zooms us into a town square, then leaves on his own.

"You take the north, I take the south?" I ask.

Wanda nods and we stand back to back, starting to use our powers to make people leave. I let my mind into those of others. One family is eating dinner, another is praying the Asr, I see a man and his husband watching t.v. I compel them all to leave, letting them know that they are no longer safe here. Children grab their favorite toys or stuffed animals, adults grab important keepsakes, jewelry, and books. They start exiting their homes, the streets misty with whisps of red and purple.

Soon after, hundreds of robots swarm from the ground, sky, and waterways, beginning to attack civilians. Wanda and I run to the nearby bridge, telling people to get off of it. I lift up a shield in front of the Sokovians.

"Wanda, make them get out of here! But safely!"

I collapse my shield and start to throw energy blasts at the bots. Wanda gets blasted and falls to the floor so I stomp my foot and send out a shockwave to kill all the bots near us. I bend down and help her up, checking her side for the injury. She shakes me off, and we continue.

Suddenly the ground hums and begins to rumble. Wanda and I look at each other in worry. A great chasm opens up in front of us, and our side of the city begins rising. We run to the edge, and try to help as many people as we can from falling down.

"Do you see?" Ultron's voice reverberates through the city as the sentries echo his voice. I spot him rising up in the air. "The beauty of it, the inevitability. You rise, only to fall. You, Avengers, you are my meteor, my swift and terrible sword and the earth will crack with the weight of your failure. Purge me from your computers, turn my own flesh against me. It means nothing. When the dust settles, the only thing living in this world will be metal."

As buildings crumble and the people run, Steve's voice rings through the earpiece.

"Stark, you worry about bringing the city back down safely. The rest of us have one job: tear these things apart. You get hurt, hurt 'em back. You get killed, walk it off."

Wanda and I look at each other, tears in our eyes. Our mind powers leave us more susceptible to empathy, and I can feel the fear and panic in the air. As I look at Wanda, I feel her guilt and fear. This is her home, she helped Ultron do this. I have my own guilt, the assault of the city reminding me so much of my own home. As the initial adrenaline wears off, we're both reduced to our guilt and fear.

I spot Clint nearby as Wanda and I escort someone through the chaos. A bot comes in and tries to hit us, Wanda and I scream and blast it away. I can feel my breath constrict as multiple bots come overhead. We huddle together behind a dumpster realizing that we are overwhelmed.

"Go, go, go!" I hear Clint yell as he runs toward us. As the bots descend on us, he pushes us into a building, and the three of us go crashing into the window. My back hits the wall and I stay there, sitting against it. Wanda crawls towards me.

"How could I let this happen?" she mutters to herself.

"It's happening again." I whisper to myself. Tears stream down my face and I can't help but to think of my own people, their world crumbling just as this city is.

"Hey, hey, you okay?" Clint asks, scooting toward us.

"This is all my fault." Wanda says. I just stare at him. Was there a version of him in my world? Of his wife, his kids, all of them dead?

"Hey, look at me." he says to us. "It's your fault, it's everyone's fault, who cares. Are you up for this? Are you? Look, I just need to know, cause the city is flying. Okay, look, the city is flying, we're fighting an army of robots, and I have a bow and arrow. None of this makes sense."